Presenting

Books

My favourite sort of cookbook. . . this is a rich gift of a book for which this mamushka is very grateful!" - Nigella Lawson

“The hottest new voice in food” – delicious. magazine

Olia Hercules was born in Ukraine and lived in Cyprus before moving to the UK to study a BA in Italian, followed by an MA in Russian and English. She worked as a reporter for Screen International before her interest in food as an amateur reached its apogee and she decided to retrain to be a chef at Leith's School of Food and Wine. She kicked off her culinary career working at Fulham's Union Market with Aaron Craze before landing her dream job as chef-de-partie at Ottolenghi's. After having her son, and filming for The Food Network, Olia began writing for Sainsbury's, The Recipe Kit, and The Guardian.

Olia was awarded the Observer's Rising Star in Food Award 2015. Her next book, Summer Kitchen, was bought by Bloomsbury in a heated auction and will publish in 2020.

MAMUSHKA won the Best Debut Food Book category at the Fortnum and Mason Food and Drink Awards.

MAMUSHKA was shortlisted in the Best Food Book category at the Andre Simon Awards.

MAMUSHKA was shortlisted in the First Book Award category at the Guild of Food Writer's Awards.

Praise for Olia Hercules:

"Olia Hercules, a born storyteller, has travelled through Georgia, Azerbaijan and beyond, and has brought back dazzling recipes... The writing is moving, and Elena Heatherwick's photography wonderfully evocative and intelligent"- The Telegraph

"Exotic, earthy dishes, vibrant colours, big flavours. This is real cooking, written about with so much love." - Diana Henry

"Ukrainian born chef Olia Hercules has been hailed as the new Ottolenghi." - Town & Country magazine

"I confess I think i have a slight crush on Olia Hercules, well at least on her cooking. Her Mamushka cookbook. . . is a handsomely produced work of well-crafted recipes (who knew beetroot broth could look so beautiful?) Highly recommended." - Observer Food Monthly

"Olia Hercules has made it her business to bring something different to the table." - Khoolect

"Olia Hercules is a storyteller-foodwriter, and a wholly original voice in the kitchen - there's not a recipe of hers I don't want to cook immediately." - Nigella Lawson

"This is an incredible book - as I began to leaf through I started to smile, and I didn't stop." - Diana Henry

"Each recipe has a story, making this a fascinating read as well as a stunning cookbook." - BBC Good Food

"If the cooking of the Caucasian region isn't yet on your radar, it soon will be. (...) These gorgeous, flavour-packed recipes will give you a taste of what you've been missing." - delicious. magazine

"Hercules transforms the “unknown” into an accessible, beautiful and in many instances a mouthwatering cuisine." - The Independent

"Olia Hercules's Kaukasis... is a wonderful mix of regional history, family stories and astonishingly colourful recipes from Georgia, Azerbaikan and Armenia. Recipes include...a dumpling broth not so quick to make, but soulfully good." - Rose Prince, The Spectator.

"While capturing the differences between the cooking of the various countries of the Caucasus, Hercules argues that the culture of the region is intertwined and that this is seen in food. Her flavours are both exciting and soothing." - Bee Wilson, for The Guardian's Best Books on Food of 2017

"A beautiful, often lyrical journey around the Caucasus, Georgia, Azerbajian and beyond, Hercules takes the reader to lands way beyond the usual culinary beat. The pictures are sumptuous, the stories fascinating, and the recipes exotic and homely." - Tom Parker Bowles, for Mail On Sunday's picks for The Year's Best Reads (2017)

"Olia Hercules has single-handedly brought the cooking of the Caucasus to the radar: Ka​ukasis, her latest, has dishes from Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan which are a revelation in flavours." - Melanie McDonagh for Evening Standard's Best Cookbooks of 2017

'A wonderful follow up to Hercules’s first book, Mamushka, this volume takes us beyond her home country, Ukraine, to Georgia and Azerbaijan. The food is glorious – Georgian food really is the culinary ‘discovery’ of 2017 – and the storytelling is a joy: emotional and sincere. One of the stand-out titles of the year.' - Diana Henry for Waterstones's best books of the year (2017)

Non-Fiction

Publication Details

Notes

MAMUSHKA

2015

Mitchell Beazley

​MAMUSHKA:

MAMUSHKA is a celebration of the food and flavours of the "Wild East" - from the Black Sea to Baku and Armenia to Azerbaijan, with over 100 recipes for fresh, flavourful and unexpected dishes from across the region. From the Moldovan giant cheese twist and Ukrainian buns with potatoes & shallots to Garlicky Georgian poussins with spicy plum chutney and Armenian pickled wet garlic; to Napoleon cake, Wasp nest buns and Apricot & sour cherry pie. To top it off, why not enjoy a digestif of Winter punch or Blackcurrant vodka? Olia Hercules will entice you with evocative new flavours and ingredient combinations that will leave you asking yourself why you haven't been eating Ukrainian food all your life!

Presenting

Olia is a Leith’s-trained chef, recipe writer and food stylist. She honed her cooking skills in the fiery kitchens of Ottolenghi after which she worked as a freelance recipe tester and developer for a variety of food magazines, including Sainsbury’s and Jamie’s, and appeared in a Food Network cookery show Red, Hot and Yummy.

In her most recent role, she helped launch online start up The Recipe Kit, writing, testing and editing over 400 recipes in seven months, and styling more than 130 dishes.

Her recipes are regularly featured in the 10 Best column of The Guardian’s Cook supplement and The Observer named her their Rising Star of 2015 in the Food category and she is the author of the bestselling cookbook MAMUSHKA.